The present invention relates to a nail polish remover with excellent solvency and reduced environmental impact. The remover of this invention is especially useful with artificial nails. Specifically, the nail polish remover contains methyl acetate, water, and a stabilizer. Further, the nail polish remover meets or exceeds contemporary regulations regarding air quality, while providing the same functional characteristics as products currently available.
Many compositions are known to be useful in removing nail polish. These compositions depend primarily on the activity of an organic solvent to soften or dissolve the nail polish. Subsequently, the polish is removed with a gentle rubbing motion. However, many of the existing compositions have shortcomings that preclude their use.
Growing concern about air quality has been driving national, state and local regulatory initiatives to improve air quality. Many of the products currently available will not be acceptable in the new regulatory environment. Ethyl acetate and ethanol have been employed as nail polish removing solvents for a long time and are currently used for artificial nail polish removal. Faryniarz describes an optimized system using ethyl acetate in U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,305. The combination is quite well suited to removing nail polish from artificial nails and has a history of safe use. However, both ethyl acetate and ethanol contribute to smog production and will no longer be environmentally acceptable in the State of California.
Nail polish removers currently available that exhibit acceptable environmental impact typically lack the aggressive solvency that consumers expect.
A thickened gamma butyrolactone (GBL) nail polish remover is described by Perlman in U.S. Pat. No. 6,521,572. GBL was the subject of an FDA Talk Paper in 1999 for its toxic effects. The potential for harm to consumers in the course of removing nail polish is too great to consider this material a viable option.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,865, Pickering teaches a nail polish remover comprised of N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters. Although the author claims low toxicity, NMP was listed under California Proposition 65 as a reproductive toxin in 2001.
A number of solvents have proven to have a limited impact on smog and have been exempted from governmental regulation. Acetone is the most notable exempted chemical for effective nail polish removal. Unfortunately, acetone is destructive to structured or artificial nail products. A number of other types of chemicals are also exempted, but tend to be too costly to be practical.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,656, Mui describes a multi-phase nail polish remover with methyl acetate. A single phase system is not mentioned, nor is the system designed for low environmental impact.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,104, Cataneo describes a nail polish remover with low volatility comprising glycol ethers and glycol ether esters. The more effective blends identified in the description do not currently meet regulatory requirements for VOC content, due to unacceptable vapor pressures and boiling points. The less effective blends do not offer the solvency required for an adequate nail polish remover.
The object of the current invention is to provide a safe, effective, and environmentally acceptable nail polish remover for artificial nails.